Green Struggle
by Obssesed Nuker
Summary: A strange occurrance strands our heroes across an alternate, and dying, Earth. Found by different warring factions, lies and deceit as much as geography will divide them. Friendships will be tested, yet the truth will unite them. Cancelled.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **So after some more thought (see my profile page for information), I've decided to restart Green Struggle. I've cleaned up the spelling the best I can, re-did the format, and added a few additional scenes and lines.

A reminder: this takes place nearly six months after the end of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's in MGLN terms. In the Tiberiumverse, this fic starts the day before the beginning of the Third Tiberium War.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Command & Conquer (although it would be sweet if I did, Joseph Kucan was pretty much born to play Kane) nor do I own Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (although if I did, enough with the ambiguousness! Fate and Nanoha, make it official already!).

**Green Earth**

**Prologue**

_**Date Irrelevant, Indescribable Location…**_

Space and time did not exist here, nor did any concept of what we could call 'being'. Each universe was its own, the incomprehensible voidless void between them impassible. And each Universe was different, very different. Some Universes had multiple versions of themselves, others only one. Some universes featured entire galaxies; others had only one isolated world. In some, there existed creatures that an ordinary person would call gods and people with fantastic abilities while others featured vast-hordes of impossibly advanced armies, which left entire worlds devastated in their wake.

But, our story only concerns with two particular universes… two specific places in this void that was filled with contradiction and incomprehensibility. And it was because of that contradictory nature that this spaceless space would unfold our story. A sudden anomaly occurred, an anomaly even by the terms of this impossible place. It lasted microseconds in both verses and barely affected the first universe of our story… the effects on the second would be far more profound.

And so our tale begins…

_**Unknown Date, Unknown Location…**_

Nanoha Takamachi's eye blinked, once, twice, three times.

'_What… what happened?' _The obvious thought ran through her mind. She struggled to remember… she was doing a little practice magic with Fate outside of transformation and then… and then she was here, lying on her back.

Hold on… where was _here_?

Nanoha immediately sat up and looked around at the empty cracked desert plain she now found herself on. It seemed to go on for miles and miles, broken only by the occasional small hill. It took another moment for her to realize that the surface she was sitting on wasn't just dirt. Peering closely at the surface, Nanoha recognized faded traffic lines and decaying cement. She was on a highway?

Wait… what about…

"Raising Heart?" Nanoha said, reaching up too her shirt in alarm.

"**I am here, my master." **Was the cool reply, Nanoha allowed herself to breathe a little easier as she pulled the red device on the end of her necklace from her school shirt.

"Do you know where Fate is?" Nanoha asked. Before the device could answer, a familiar groan came from off to the left.

"Did someone catch that buses license plate number?" Fate Testarossa said groggily, sitting up while rubbing her head. It took a moment for her to realize that she was not where she was supposed to be.

"Fate! Are you alright?!" Nanoha asked, even more relieved that her friend was still with her turning too her friend.

"Nanoha… uh, yes. I am fine, I just have a bit of a headache. Bardiche?"

"**Here, sir."** Was the natural reply from Fate's own device.

"Thank goodness." Fate said, and only then did she began to take in their surroundings. "Uh… Nanoha, where are we?"

The two ten year old girls turned their attention to their surroundings… which as previously noted, consisted of dry desert landscape broken only by small hills and the apparently well-decayed highway the two found themselves on. There was only one thing for Nanoha to say in such a situation: "Uh… lost apparently."

Fate stood up after a moment's silence, followed by Nanoha. Another pause as they took a closer look at their surroundings, looking for any details they might have missed earlier. After finding none, Fate sighed, "I think we should contact the Bureau… Bardiche?"

"**Connecting… ERROR! No connection found!" **Both girls gave an alarmed 'eh' at Bardiche's sardonic reply. Fate shook her head for a moment, trying to figure everything out while Nanoha tried to call the TSAB's HQ on Raising Heart, just to be sure.

"**No signal found." **Was the stoic reply, **"I'm sorry, my master."**

Nanoha sighed, "It's okay…"

"I think we're in an unexplored dimension that… probably one that's too far away from one of the Bureau's transmitters." Fate speculated, "Although… that would have to be very far away."

"How far?" Nanoha asked nervously, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"At minimum? Several months." Fate replied, "We better get moving, this road indicates that there is civilization here… or maybe, was civilization here. It looks pretty rundown, but if there is anybody here the road should lead us there… eventually."

"Should we fly?" Nanoha asked, "We could cover more ground…"

Fate thought about it, then shook her head, "No, we have no idea how anybody who saw us would react. If we don't find anything," A glance at her watch, which was thankfully functional, "by one, we'll fly."

"Okay…" Nanoha said, glancing down both ways the highway ran. One ran northwest before veering off straight North and the other ran straight south. They had a 50-50 choice here. "North or South?"

"North…" Fate said, "I think we're in the Northern Hemisphere of the planet, so going north would give us a better chance of finding a more temperate climate."

Fate abruptly became aware of Nanoha staring at her strangely and took a few more moments too realize why, "Uh… I'm studying to become an Enforcer, remember? We have to know survival skills like that. When you join the TSAB, you'll have to do the same."

"Oh…" Nanoha said, slightly embarrassed, "Well, at least you'll be able to help me study."

Fate laughed as they got under way, "I suppose that's one way of putting it."

They walked for three hours, the temperature increasing dramatically as the day wore on and the sun grew higher in the sky. They passed a few stumps of metal on the side of the road that indicated that there had been signs along the highway, but little other indication of civilization. The school uniforms the two were wearing did not fit for this environment and it did not take long for the pair to start sweating.

"Fate…" Nanoha groaned, slightly more tired than her partner and lagging a bit behind, "I'm really thirsty!"

Fate gave a tired smile back and was about to rebuke Nanoha when she thought she saw a building being too loom in the distance. Instead she said, "Don't worry Nanoha, I think I see something up ahead."

Nanoha blinked a few times before also spotting the building. "Thank god! I was beginning to think I would sweat to death."

Five minutes later, they walked up to an obviously abandoned gas station, the big sign that normally displayed gas prices was toppled and it's writing long gone. Some graffiti dotted the side of the building and its front display windows were smashed open, but it was otherwise quite intact.

"Hello?" Nanoha called into the structure cautiously. The only answer she received was the wind, and the two girls stepped through the door, dirty glass crunching under their shoes. The store was largely cleaned out, but there were still items remaining. Fate spotted a dirty knapsack on one of the shelves and grabbed it.

"FATE!" Nanoha said, shocked that her polite friend would resort to stealing.

"I don't think anybody owns it…" Fate reasoned, adding: "Plus, we're going to need it to carry supplies."

She began to walk over to an aisle which she thought some canned food goods were still laying on, glancing over her back, she told Nanoha, "See if you can find a map, we might be able to figure out where we are."

Nanoha blinked, thought about it for a moment, than nodded her affirmation, and began to look around herself. Fate actually found a surprising number of unopened canned beans left, although she could tell right off the bat the brand names weren't Japanese nor native Mid-Childan, she knew the language though, it was from Nanoha's homeworld.

"FATE!" Nanoha's excited voice drifted from the other side of the shop, "I think I found a map of the area!"

Fate hastily shoved a few more cans into the bag, before racing over too where Nanoha was. The map was a stand one and quite faded, so much so that the names of most of the places were unrecognizable.

"The nearest town is here…" Nanoha said, indicating a dot with a barely legible name due to fading, pronouncing it well with her English skills (Arisa had been a surprisingly good tutor), "Dahlonega."

Fate studied the map, and then looked up and out the shops front, then repeated the process a few more times. "If I am reading this right, that town should be over just over those two hills to the West."

"That's good…" Nanoha breathed, "Can we rest first?"

Fate considered it, they had a lot of time before sunset and it was cooler here in the shade then out in the sun. But it was still rather hot and they had not found a source of water yet, plus those hills were not steep, but they were rather big. Still, better to catch their breath and reduce the likelihood of heatstroke, "Alright, we'll take a fifteen minute break."

With a slight 'whew', Nanoha sat down on the floor, followed by Fate.

"Hey… Nanoha…" Fate said quietly. When Nanoha made an inquisitive sound, Fate continued, "What… what do you think happened here?"

"What do you mean?" Nanoha asked, not quite getting it.

Fate gestured to the highway they had been walking down, "On Mid-Childa, highways that sizes don't fade out like that. They are either repaired constantly or torn-up and replaced with buildings or parks."

Nanoha glanced out, seeing what Fate was saying, "They do the same in Japan and America too. The landscape though…" She hesitated a moment before continuing on. "Miyuki once showed me a scene from the beginning of a movie that was made back in the 1980's… ah, 30 years ago. Back then, everybody was afraid there would be a nuclear war between the Soviets and the Americans. The movie was supposed to take place after that war."

Another pause, then: "The landscape of that movie looked a lot like this."

Fate turned to Nanoha in alarm, the idea of being on a post-nuclear world was not a very pleasant thought. But Nanoha was able to head her alarm off, "I'm not saying it's what happened… it's just what it reminds me of. Maybe something completely different happened, like an asteroid or a drought forced everybody to move away."

Fate took a breath while collecting her thoughts, "Alright…" She said, still something Nanoha had said had sparked her curiosity. "What ultimately happened? Between the, uh, the Soviets and the Americans I mean?"

It was times like this that Nanoha was reminded that Fate was, technically speaking, an alien from another dimension, so she did not have the same knowledge of Earth's history. "The Soviet Union fell apart and their legal successor, the Russian Federation, made peace with the Americans. Both sides have largely disarmed by now, although they still keep small stockpiles in storage."

"I see…" Fate said, looking even more relieved. That piqued Nanoha's curiosity…

"Why did you ask?" Nanoha said.

"On Mid-Childa, there was a nuclear war about 150 years ago. It's what caused the creation of the Bureau in the first place." Fate said nervously, "They are… sort of scared when it comes to the issue of nuclear-type weaponry these days. That is one of the reasons we have not made contact with Earth's government."

"Oh…" Nanoha replied, "Well on Earth, Japan is the only nation to have ever had nuclear weapons used against it. So we generally support disarmament."

"I see." Fate said. The conversation about the two worlds history had been interesting, but a glance at her watch told Fate that fifteen minutes had passed. "Alright, we should go."

"Okay…" Nanoha said, getting to her feet. "Did you find any water?"

Fate shook her head, "Nothing that is safe to drink. Maybe we'll have better luck at the town."

Nanoha didn't complain for once.

Roughly two hours later, one o'clock, they crested the second hill and looked down on the town of Dahlonega… or what was left of it.

"Oh my god." Nanoha said. She could see a space where several concrete structures stood in a little grouping, quite abandoned. There was another, smaller group of concrete buildings a ways further north; obviously where the town center had been given the road lay out. But those structures were surrounded by the ruins of brick and mortar buildings that had apparently collapsed and the skeletons of wooden houses that appeared to have burned down.

The two girls stood there on top of that hill overlooking the town for a long silent moment. Fate was the first to break it, "I… I don't see anyone."

"I don't either." Nanoha said, looking over the ruins of the town again. Something on the edge of the opposite side of the town, just at the edge of the horizon, made her peer harder. "What is that?"

Fate tore her searching gaze away from the town and look in the direction Nanoha indicated. "I don't know, I can't make it out. It looks rather… green?"

"Let's check it out." Nanoha said suddenly, beginning to make her way down the hill.

Concern rushed into Fate, "Nanoha! Wait! It might be dangerous!"

She rushed after her best friend, Fate did not try to stop Nanoha though, and she merely got caught up with her. Fate herself was curious as to what the green-thing was herself. As they began to reach the first of that group of concrete structures separate from the main town, Nanoha froze.

"Nanoha?" Fate inquired quietly.

"Do you smell that?" Nanoha asked.

Fate sniffed the air a few times, then gave a soft cough, "Yes… is that… smoke?"

"I didn't see a fire… did you?" Nanoha asked.

Fate shook her head, "Maybe one of the buildings obstructed our view. If so, it must be a campfire and recently set… which means."

"-There is someone here after all." Nanoha finished. "Let's go, I think it's coming from that building on the small hill-"

They both began to make their way through the structures, following a small road that branched out and ran between the groups of structures, with a few apparent parking places. There were no cars to be seen in any of the spots.

It took a moment for Nanoha to realize the layout. "This... this reminds me of a college campus."

"Hm?" Fate mumbled, she had not really been paying attention.

"Ah… back on Earth. This reminds me of a medium-sized college campus. My parents were considering sending my brother off at the time and we visited a place in the country. This set-up is similar… although there are some differences." Nanoha explained, before getting speculative, "Maybe Dahlonega was a college town. Something happened to the college and the people abandoned the town."

Fate shook her head, recalling the map from the gas station, "No, there were a lot of other dots on that map. Something tells me this place was not always a desert."

They continued to move on in silence, at one point they passed a piece of wreckage at a fork in the road. The rusted metal seemed familiar to Nanoha, the shape poked at her memory… a weapon of some kind? They took a left, towards the structure and quickly found themselves at another fork, but with a staircase leading up to the concrete building they were looking for.

Fate stopped and whispered, "Sh! Listen!"

Nanoha did, for a moment nothing, and then they heard the distinctive 'ping' of someone pulling a single guitar string coming up the hill. Nanoha and Fate moved again, making their way up the staircase as quietly as they could. A few more strings rang out as they made to the top, crossed a small parking lot, and peered around the front-left corner of the building.

A single man, apparently in his early 40's, sat on a rusting office chair, studying a few-strings-short of a guitar in his hand with interest. A burn-out campfire smoldered in the middle of the small road that ran in front of the structure and a skinny greyhound lay next to the fire. Fate caught a dirty knapsack, larger than the one she and Nanoha had been carrying, and… her heart nearly stopped as she saw the semi-automatic rifle propped up against the man's left leg.

After taking a look at the weapons, the two studied the man a little more. He had very noticeable stubble growing his face and the clothing consisted of a dirty t-shirt and torn-and-patched jeans. A coat with holes in it lay against across the right armrest of the chair and a very worn-out sleeping bag lay on the ground too his right.

The man himself was skinny, but modestly well-built in muscles. He was certainly bigger then Nanoha and Fate, but they were not fully grown so that was nothing new. Slightly long, badly cut light-brown hair gave him completed the haggard appearance as did a pair of light green eyes that were beginning to show signs of going dull.

"Do we talk to him?" Nanoha whispered to Fate. For a moment Fate wondered why Nanoha asked that question, but then she realized that Nanoha was staring at the gun. That thought gave Fate pause, long enough that the question was settled for them.

The dog, upon Nanoha speaking, had lifted its head off the ground and looked in their direction; however it took a moment for the man to notice.

"What's wrong boy? You hear something?" The man said, definitely speaking in English. It was when the dog began growling that Fate began to worry. The man apparently tried to calm his pet, "Calm down boy, it might not be threatening."

Both Fate and Nanoha saw the man's hand move closer to the gun despite his words. They jerked back behind the wall, but the movement caught the man's eye. He shouted "Who's there?!"

The two did not reply, slightly hoping the man would dismiss them. They heard the man say reassuringly, "Listen, if you don't want to hurt me, I won't hurt you."

Fate glanced down at Nanoha, who looked back at her and nodded. Ever since they had become friends, Fate had come to realize that Nanoha was really good at figuring people out… even if she had to go and blast them to find out their reasons. Nanoha was willing to trust this man, then so was Fate.

Besides, their barrier jackets could easily stop bullets.

Holding their hands up and looking nervous, the duo rounded the corner. The dog stopped growling and seemed to look at them curiously, while the man calmed and removed the hand from his gun.

"Oh…" The man said, "Hi."

"Hello…" Nanoha said, her English being better then Fate's, minus auto-translator of course (but they did not want to resort to that just yet). Fate figured that the two were going to get the opportunity to use their English a lot.

"Ah… you can put your hands down. Sorry about the intro, I can't be too careful." The man replied, standing up. Fate noticed the pistol on his right hip then, but lowered her hands anyways. If the man wanted to shoot them, he could have done it when they first rounded the corner.

"Are you two girls lost?" The man said. Before either of them could reply, he continued, "You two look thirsty… hold on."

He rummaged through the knapsack and pulled out two drinking cups, Fate and Nanoha took this as a sign they could approach and did so. The man looked up and gave a small smile, "Here… have a seat, I'll go get the water jug, and then we can have introductions."

They took the cups from him and sat down on the ground quietly as the man (picking up the rifle, which made Fate momentarily weary) and moving inside the building. While he was gone, the greyhound wandered up and sniffed at Fate momentarily, then Nanoha and looked rather confused.

"_Maybe it smells Arisa's dogs and Suzuka's cats." _Fate wondered. The thought of their two other friends on Earth made Fate wonder about hers and Nanoha's families and all their friends. Did they know they were missing? How were the Takamachi's taking it? Chrono? Admiral Lindy? Hayate and the Wolkenritter? Did Yuuno know?

All these questions drifted through Fate's head, Nanoha seemed to sense that her friend was worried because she stopped scratching the dog behind his ears and turned her head in concern towards Fate. "Fate?"

"We should talk about it later." Fate said, Nanoha accepted that, the man returned moments later, the gun strapped over his shoulder and a jug of clear water in his hands.

"I'm back!" He announced, "Thank god that filtration unit is still working!"

He poured some water into the cups which the two girls drank gratefully, before putting a cap back on the jug and placing it next to his bag. Nanoha finished drinking and said to the man, "Thank you."

"Think nothing of it!" The man said back with a smile as he sat down in the chair. "Now, how about we give our names, eh? I'm Fredrick Reedors, just call me Fred, and the dog-" He indicated the greyhound with a nod of the head, "I call Swift."

I am Nanoha Takamachi, this is my friend…" Nanoha looked over.

Fate picked up without a beat, "Fate Harlaown-Testarossa. It's nice to meet you."

Fred nodded back, "Oh no, the pleasure is all mine."

"Uh… excuse me, but Fred, do you know where we are? I mean, we know this is a town called Dahlonega, which we found on a map. But we are really lost…" Nanoha said, "We sort of… just woke-up to the Southeast of here."

"On the old highway?" Fred said, "I didn't think you were from around here anyways, are you from one of the Blue Zones?"

"The what?" Nanoha and Fate asked at the same time.

Fred seemed startled by their lack of knowledge, he shook his head, "You know, the Blue Zones… up North?" They just gave him blank looks, "Jesus… okay, you're in the former Southeastern United States, Georgia to be specific. We're sitting in what used to be North Georgia College."

Nanoha was so surprised; she nearly choked on air, "The United States? _**America**_?! That can't be… what happened!?"

Fate looked at her friend in alarm but Fred looked at her in befuddlement, "What happened? That's easy enough… Tiberium happened."

Another silent pause, then, simultaneously, the logical question: "What?"

Fred sighed, "Okay, time for a bit of a history lesson."

**End Chapter**


	2. First Impressions

**A/N: **If you're wondering about the Julian-calendar dates for MGLN, I consider the original and A's to have occurred in 2004 and StrikerS occurs ten years later, so that's 2014.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own either Command & Conquer or Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. In other news: Kane's a Magnificent Bastard, Nanoha makes friends by first blowing them up, and rainbows are straighter then Subaru, details at 11.

**Green Struggle**

**Chapter 1: First Impressions**

_**Dahlonega Georgia, Yellow Zone Y-7, former United States**_

_**June 16**__**th**__**, 2047**_

_**Early Afternoon**_

Nanoha and Fate listened as Fred told them of the past 52 years. He told them about Tiberium, about the Meteor Shower that first brought it too Earth, the rise of Kane and NOD, the formation of GDI, and the First Tiberium War. He told them about the battles throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, culminating in the siege of Sarajavo. He talked about the disintegration of nations as Tiberium destroyed Earth's ecosystem, NOD's factional split, the reunification under Anton Slavik, the return of Kane, and the Second Tiberium War.

He actually had quite a lot to say about that last one. Fred had apparently been a veteran of the war, having fought as a junior officer in NOD from the opening shots all the way through the Firestorm incident in its immediate aftermath. He left after the assassination of Slavik and the second break-up of NOD.

"… I was just tired of fighting." Fred said, "All that hate I had towards GDI… it burned me up, made me exhausted. Then when Slavik got shot and all those colonels and lower-ranking generals started tearing apart NOD… you could say I became disillusioned by it all. My immediate CO understood, he just asked me to turn in my gear, handed me some civilian clothes… even gave me a working automobile that had been commandeered. I had to abandon that car after a week though."

He paused silent for a long while, "I am not sure about what happened to the Brotherhood after I left. I know they're still around and still a major player, reunified after some uprising in Rio and apparently some stuff in Australia involving them too… I just don't know how powerful they are today. I've even seen some convoys of theirs making use of what's left of 400. But I am way out of the loop, last bit of news I ever received was GDI's new zone system."

"What's that?" Fate asked, trying to keep the man talking. She had Bardiche secretly recording all this information, granted Nanoha was probably doing the same with Raising Heart, but it never hurt to make sure.

Fred frowned, "Well, there are three 'levels' of zones. There's the Blue Zones, completely GDI territory and completely free of hazardous Tiberium infestation. There's Yellow Zones… like here. There are sublevels of Yellow Zones which indicate how hazardous the infestation is. As a general rule, the closer you get to a Blue Zone, the 'cleaner' the Yellow Zone. Then there are the Red Zones."

Another pause, "I've never even saw any videos or pictures of those places, mind you. I do know that they are 100% uninhabitable for humans. The only 'people' who live there are Tib-mutants, and even they have a tough time with the altered weather patterns. The place might as well be a different planet as far as human habitation is concerned. NOD and GDI sometimes send military units into there; GDI apparently even has a specific sub-organization dedicated to Red Zone operations. The major Tiberium mining corporations also send these harvesting expeditions into the places, their expensive and hazardous but apparently very lucrative, because the lands virtually been overrun by the green rock. All of those things are always temporary though."

Fred sighed, "That's the last bit of official news I heard, over five years ago. I've been moving from place to place, living and scavenging as best I can… sometimes I miss being in the Brotherhood. Sure, there was the terror of combat, but still… Peace, Unity, Brotherhood. It was in the title, we were all brothers and sisters, all fighting for a common cause we thought just. Maybe it is, I don't know, I just do know that I had enough of fighting even before I left NOD. I still have to fight, but it's a fight to survive for my own life… not as tiring, but there is no-one else to share the burden with." A wry smile, "I think that evens it out."

There was a long silence as Nanoha and Fate process everything they had heard while Fred just stared off into the distance, lost in his memories. Swift had gone back to his nap, resting silently besides the camp fire.

Fred then chose to break the silence, turning back too Nanoha and Fate, "SO! Here I am spilling my life's story too you, in addition to a lot of information you two should already know. What's your excuse for not knowing all this?"

Nanoha let Fate handle this part, she did not trust herself in making up a story and outright telling the man 'we are powerful mage's from another dimension who wound-up here through unknown means and are unable to contact our parent organization to go home' would probably not go over well.

Fate figured this too and already had an idea of what to say, "It's a long story and I don't think you would believe us. Suffice to say, me and Nanoha were at the park one moment, the next moment we were on that highway."

"You won't be bringing any trouble here, would you? The last thing I want is to have to use this old SKS." Fred said suspiciously, indicating the rifle leaning against his leg.

"In all likelihood, no... Right now, we are just very far from home and don't seem to have any way to get back there." Fate said.

Fred looked back and forth between Nanoha and Fate, giving them a hard look for a long time, before sighing. "Alright, I don't have to know the details. As long as trouble is not following you… would you mind hanging out with me and Swift?"

"Ah… we don't want to be a burden." Nanoha said.

"Nonsense! Besides, I would never forgive myself if I let you two go and quite possibly get yourselves killed." Fred said, "I could teach you the ropes for a couple of months, then send you off."

"What makes you think we would get killed?" Fate asked, and immediately regretted it. Fred fixed her with a stare that reminded her of a drill-sergeant from a movie some military geek in Nanoha's class owned. It softened after a moment, but it was still momentarily unnerving.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Fred said, "You're in the middle of a Yellow Zone. Granted, Georgia is one of the better off ones, but still. Where else are you going to go, the Blue Zone up north? Without proper identification and authorization, which you don't have, GDI would never let you past the zone walls. Besides the risk of Tiberium infection, out here you have bandits, warlords fighting each other for territory, mutant animals, freak weather patterns spilling over from Red Zones, and, of course, the skirmishes between GDI and NOD that flare up now and again. Hell, I'm lucky to have made it past 40 out here."

Fate thought it wouldn't be that bad, given whom she and Nanoha were, but she ran back over what Fred had told them about Tiberium in her mind. She realized it was not that much. Sure, he gave them the important facts: it's a green rock, it's incredibly radioactive and toxic, it turns all the solid matter it touches into more of it, and, when harvested and refined, it was an incredible mineral and energy source. But there just weren't enough details in those broad facts to factor in whether it was a threat to the two. Especially the 'freak weather patterns' Fred had mentioned, he had not elaborated on what those weather patterns were but Fate suspected they were rather serious.

Also there was the anarchic element to consider. Fate wasn't worried about bandits or even the warlords; she had got the impression that those guys were just a bunch of men with guns, which she and Nanoha could handle. What had her more concerned were GDI and NOD, two competing factions with the resources of most of this world (Fate was having a difficult time accepting that this was the same Earth as Nanoha's homeworld, for both her own psychological reasons and the discrepancy of the political situation) split between them. That implied serious firepower that could be a lethal threat to the two mages.

And Fred tacked on one last addition, "And besides, it's kind of lonely out here. I have not talked to another human in three months. Swift's good company and all, but it just isn't the same as another human being."

Fate and Nanoha shared a look, the same thought passing through their heads simultaneously. They turned back to the veteran and said at the same time, "Okay, we'll stay."

"Fantastic!" Fred said cheerfully, "Now the first thing I am going to do is teach you how to use a gun!"

Fate blanched, Nanoha gave a nervous laugh, and Swift woke-up and looked over to see what the commotion was about. As Fred picked up his rifle and to begin a lecture on the basics of gun-use, Fate couldn't help but wonder what her fellow Mid-Childans would think.

_**That Night…**_

Fate had not taken to the firearms training well, given her people's background with mass-based weapons. Nanoha did not have as much of a stigma against it, but she still had some having been raised in largely pacifistic modern Japan. Frederick had commented that their discipline was good while teaching them to shoot, Fate could not decide whether that was because they were nervous using the gun or because of their past activities for the TSAB.

After a lesson in gun safety and a little target practice with a lot of misses (both girls were unprepared for the mass-based weapons recoil), the three went scavenging a little in the former town center. During that little expedition, Nanoha and Fate had learned that the 'thing' they had seen from the hill was the edge of a mid-sized Tiberium field in the Northeastern part of town.

"It would be larger, but GDI keeps trying to contain it." Fred remarked as he searched a largely-empty pantry.

"Trying?" Fate noted.

"Yeah, they set-up a sonic field generator, then either a bunch of bandit's use it for target practice, NOD agents deliberately sabotage it, or the weather knocks it out. GDI apparently sends in an engineer team every couple of months to try and build a new one. In any case, I don't intend to go within a half-kilometer of its edge, I have seen a lot of cases of Tiberium poisoning before and it is not a pretty way to die."

Fate abandoned the idea of flying over the field after hearing that.

Now the sun had just finished setting and Fred was just outside of the building they originally met at, having restarted the camp fire and was cooking dinner over it. Fate and Nanoha were sitting inside the building, which had apparently been a student dorm prior too it's abandonment. There were two dirty mattresses with somewhat less-dirty blankets on them that the two had decided to use as impromptu beds. Fred had laid his sleeping bag out on the other side of the room they were in, which only had one way in and out (for security). For now, Swift had gone with Fred.

It was the first real chance Nanoha and Fate had to talk about the afternoon and their concerns.

"So… Nanoha." Fate said, "Does this make any sense?"

"What do you mean?" Nanoha asked.

"This whole thing with Tiberium and NOD." Fate continued, "I didn't hear much about it back… home," Fate was still uneasy in thinking they had somehow travelled forward in time. "But I never paid much attention to the news."

"No…" Nanoha said, "I may not have paid very much attention to global politics, but I am certain there's no such thing as Tiberium back home. Has the Bureau ever encountered something like that?"

"Not to my knowledge…" Fate replied honestly, although she hadn't really ever checked.

The two sat in silence for a bit longer.

"Do you think everybody back home has noticed yet?" Nanoha asked.

"Yes… definitely, they would have noticed by now and finished looking on Earth and are contacting HQ to see if we're on an explored world." Fate said.

"I bet Signum's going nuts at the thought of not being able to dual you again." Nanoha teased.

Fate gave a small laugh at that, she probably would have laughed more in more ordinary circumstances but rapidly fell into nervous silence.

"Fate?" Nanoha asked.

"Nanoha… I'm scared." Fate admitted, "What if they don't find us? Or what if something happens to you before they do find us? We'll nev-"

Nanoha cut her off, "Fate, what do you mean if something happens to **me**?"

Fate ran the sentence back through her head and promptly turned red, "Erm… uh."

"Fate?" Nanoha questioned again.

After an embarrassed silence, Fate finally relented, "Nanoha… I-it's just you mean so much to me that if something happened to you, I-I don't know what I would do… not to mention how I would tell your pare-"

Fate was cut-off again by being pulled into a powerful hug, Nanoha whispered in her ear, "It's alright Fate, we'll make it through this, and we'll get home together in one piece. Just promise not to worry about me, just promise to worry about _us_. You won't always be around to protect me and I won't always be around to protect you, but that is why we are both strong."

"Nanoha…" Fate whispered back tearily, returning the hug, "Thank you."

There was a long silence as the two girls just huddled together in their mutual company… until the moment was ruined by a polite cough at the door. The two girls nearly leapt out of their skins and turned to see Fred there, an amused eyebrow raised.

"If you two lovebirds are done," He said, making them both blush, "Dinner is ready."

And with that, he produced three hot bowls of canned soup, a bowl of dog food, and some utensils too eat them wit. They ate in silence and turned in for bed soon after, Fred falling asleep immediately with practiced ease while Swift lay by the room's door in case of intruders. Nanoha and Fate had considerably more difficulty sleeping because the old mattresses and blankets were horribly uncomfortable by their usual standards. They managed though, exhausted by the day's events.

_**June 17**__**th**__**, 2047 AD**_

_**Early Next Morning**_

When Nanoha woke-up, she was momentarily confused and disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings, the feeling passed very quickly as she remembered what had previously happened the day before. Sitting up, she gave a big stretch, that mattress plus the lack of pajamas had been hell on her back. She looked around, Fate was still asleep (of course, late-riser she was) but Fred's sleeping bag was empty and Swift was not by the door. Nanoha quietly got out of bed, slipped her shoes back on, and tip-toed out the door.

Just as she suspected, she found Fred stoking the fire with Swift lapping up some water. Fred didn't look up as she came out.

"Morning…" He said simply, "Sleep well?"

Not wanting to be impolite, but also not wanting to lie, Nanoha resorted to a half-truth: "Well enough."

"Good to hear…" Fred said, tossing a wooden chair leg onto the fire, and then poking around with a metal pole for a moment.

Swift stopped drinking and came on over too Nanoha, who began to scratch the Greyhound behind the ears.

"How did you find him?" Nanoha asked.

"Hm?" Fred said, looking up, "Oh, Swift? I just found him wandering what's left of Birmingham, half-starved, I fed him and he's been with me for about a year now. I am surprised he never stumbled into a field and got killed or mutated before then. Want to know why I call him Swift?"

Nanoha made an affirmative noise.

"Because he leaps to decisions too quickly… I swear he is the most impulsive dog to ever walk this Earth."

Nanoha giggled, "Arisa, one of my friends back home, she loves dogs."

"Good for her." Fred replied, placing some soup cans with holes poked in their tops by the fire. "Where are you from anyways, Japan?"

Nanoha paused, "Yes. Uminari City, it's not anywhere near as big or famous as Tokyo or Kyoto for instance, but it's still a big place."

"I see." The veteran said, although Nanoha could tell he didn't given the blatant lack of knowledge about this world she and Fate had shown yesterday. Like Fate, Nanoha was having a tough time accepting that this planet was Earth 30 years in the future, partly because she did not want to think of the implications that would have for her and Fate, partly because the situation on this world, even if it was 30 years in the future, was so radically different from hers. The timelines didn't match up at all.

The ensuing silence was interrupted by a distant rumbling to the northeast, like thunder despite there not being a cloud in the sky. Frederick's head twisted in that direction and his eyes narrowed.

"That's heavy gun fire." He proclaimed.

"What?" Nanoha said.

"It's one of those sounds for that a vet would forever recognize after being through a war." Fred noted, "Those are big guns, either a number of artillery pieces or a big tank battle. I'm guessing that some GDI and NOD forces found each other."

He seemed to focus on the sound, the distant continuous rumble that occasionally got louder and then occasionally go quieter. "That must be a big battle, biggest since Tib-War Two. That gunfire is coming from former South Carolina, that's further then 150 kilometers in that direction."

"Should we be concerned?" Nanoha said.

Fred grunted and returned to watching the soup cans, "Ask me again in an hour."

Time passed as Nanoha simply stared northeast, 40 minutes later Fate appeared at the doorway, yawning a little and taking the opportunity to stretch. Then she noticed the distant rumbling sound "Is there a thunderstorm coming?"

"According to Mr Reedors, that's a battle." Nanoha said. Fate's mouth fell open in shock.

"Food's done." Fred announced before addressing the more distressing problem, "Don't be too concerned about the gunfire, it should be over within the next 20 minutes and it's over 150 kilometers away."

"Oh…" Fate said uncertainly, and then she glanced northeast again.

As she did, 15,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface Ion Cannon-27 fired.

Nanoha had taken her head away from the northeast to watch Fred collect the soup cans, but when she heard Fate gasp, her attention refocused first on her friend, and then in the direction she was looking. Fred reacted the same way and they all saw what was happening.

Quite far off in the distance, an octet of small blue-white beams was stretching vertically from the ground into the sky, quite visible despite the distance because they were rather bright. As the trio watched, the beams began to spin and spiral together towards a central epicenter. They coalesced and seemed to fade out for a second… then a single massive beam streaked down from the heavens and impacted the center. There was a momentary flash of light in the distance and everything was oddly silent for a full minute until a low rumbling sound reached them.

Then everything was permanently quiet, the rumbling sound of gunfire had ceased and nobody spoke a word… until Fred decided to whistle.

"Damn, is that the latest model? I don't remember it being like that back in TW-Two." He noted.

"You know what that was?" A bewildered Fate asked.

"Oh, of course, I have even been on the receiving end of the older versions of the Ion Cannons, not directly mind you, only one person can claim that honor." Fred elaborated, "The Ion Cannon has been a part of the GDI arsenal ever since the end of Tib-War One. I don't know how it works because I'm not an particle physicist, however I do know that it's a satellite that shoots a massive energy beam which rivals the destructive capacity of nuclear weapons. GDI's thrown up a whole network of them to cover the globe."

Fate and Nanoha stared at Fred, then at each other. Fate, in particular, was the most bewildered… she had never heard of such a weapon in Mid-Childa's history. Fred simply shook his head in bemusement, "Oh, don't worry about it. That battles over, now come on, the food is going to get cold!"

_**Inner Sanctum of Temple Prime, Sarajevo, Yellow Zone Y-1**_

_**14 minutes later…**_

"… I want you to have the privilege of starting the Third Tiberium War. The war… to end _all_ wars."

A click, a high pitched whine, and then momentary silence.

"God ahead, my son, push the button. Inscribe your place in history with the blood of GDI."

The screen was touched, the signal was sent, and automated systems nearly a thousand kilometers away whirred to life. The world was about to become an even more dangerous place.

_**Unkown Location…**_

_**2 minutes earlier…**_

'_Why does this situation seem familiar?' _That was Hayate Yagami's first thought upon finding herself staring at a perfectly clear afternoon sky with no reference as to where she was or how she got there. Okay, review… she was getting ready to meet Nanoha and Fate at the park, Vita and Signum had finished getting into civilian clothes to report at TSAB headquarters, Shamal was preparing some cartridges. Hayate remembered having just put on her shoes and then… she was here.

Where was here, anyways?

"Hello?" She spoke as she sat up and took in the view of a desert, littered with wreckage. The most prominent piece of detritus was sitting right in front of her, a huge black dome that appeared worn and abandoned. A few dead tree's lay around it, vultures perched on their branches, watching Hayate curiously.

"Hayate?" Came a familiar, stoic voice. With relief, Hayate turned to see Signum climbing too her feet, a bit too the right was Shamal apparently just sitting up, even further too the right was Vita, who lay still staring at the sky confused.

"Am I dead?" She asked.

"I doubt that…" Hayate noted, "This does not seem like any afterlife."

"Fair enough…" Vita replied, finally deciding to get up, "Where are we?"

"I was hoping you could tell me… where is Zafira?" Hayate asked.

The group froze and frantic gazes swept the desert floor for the final Wolkenritter. Nothing…

"I… I can't sense him!" Shamal said her voice suddenly on the edge of panic. Signum, Hayate, and Vita all took a moment to realize that none of them could pick-up Zafira through their shared mental link.

"I don't understand," Signum said, only allowing a slight bit of confusion to slip into her voice, "Even if we are in another dimension, we should still have our conne-"

She was cut-off by a loud mechanical bang, the suddenness of which sent the vultures that had been perched on the dead tree's scattering in all directions. The three present Wolkenritter and their mistress turned towards the black dome they had woken-up next too as the ground began to shake and another noise, a mechanical grinding one, filled the air. Before their eyes, the dome cracked open and began to recede into the ground.

In a flash, Signum, Shamal, and Vita were in front of Hayate, prepared to activate their barrier jackets should that prove necessary. As the long and slender form of a giant rocket lifted in front of them, they did little more than stare in awe and confusion as it pointed skywards. As the massive missile ascended from beneath the Earth, the group of four became aware of a semi-mechanical male voice making announcements over an unseen loudspeaker system.

"Launch sequence for Silo-4 initiated repeat, launch sequence for silo-4 initiated. All Brotherhood personnel should clear to safe distance or take shelter. Final systems check underway: engines nominal, warhead nominal, guidance systems nominal. Confirming target data and transferring codes. Final countdown initiated, launch in t-minus fifteen… fourteen… thirteen… twelve… eleven… ten…"

Hayate then realized that standing unprotected right next to a series of giant rocket engines right as they ignited might not be good for her and her family's physical well-being.

"Shamal!" She yelled, "We need a barrier!"

Shamal tore her gaze away from the massive rocket and took another critical moment to recognize Hayate's command.

"Klarer Wind!" She said to the rings on her finger.

"**Protection!" **Shamal's device announced in its native Belkan, the magical shield formed around the group as the countdown reached 'six'. At five, the engines lit-up and their view of the rocket was obscured by flames and smoke and all other sounds drowned out by the roar of its engines. They didn't see the missile break away from its holding superstructure and lift-off for awhile. The toxic fumes from the engine lingered around the barrier for a moment before a gentle wind blew it away.

They dropped the barrier and craned their heads to see the missile climbing rapidly into the sky at a slight-arch. For a moment nobody said anything, not that would be useful as the noise of the rocket's engines had left that damnable ringing sound in their ears. That too faded as the rocket went out of sight.

"What… what just happened?" Vita asked.

"I think we just watched a rocket launch." Signum deadpanned.

"Hey!" Vita's temper flared up at the very subtle jab, "You know what I mean!"

"Uh… I don't mean to interrupt, but I think we are in some sort of military facility." Hayate pointed out, "And those kinds of facilities don't really like mysterious people who aren't supposed to be there."

As if on cue, a new voice yelled at the group from nearby: "INTRUDERS! FREEZE!"

'_We best surrender,' _Hayate transmitted to the present Wolkenritter telepathically, _'maybe they will understand…'_

A second unknown voice entered their ears, this one sounding more authoritative, "Hands on your heads! Turn towards us, slowly."

The command was punctuated by a series of clicks that were most defiantly weapons. Vita bristled, but the four complied and put their hands behind their heads and turned to the voices. They were confronted by several dozen men in patchwork military fatigue carrying a variety of automatic rifles and light machine guns and all pointing those weapons at the four women.

The apparent leader, the one who had told the group to put their hands on their heads, stepped forward, lowering his rifle and placed a hand too his ear. "This is Corporal Hernandez to command, I have captured what I believe to be a group of spies. Four females, two adults and two pre-teens, all four are wearing Blue Zone clothing. I found them south of silo-4, please advise…"

The self-identified 'Corporal Hernandez' listened to whatever the 'command' had to say, then nodded, "Understood, we'll wait for them hear. Over and out," He turned back to his men. "You six, keep your eyes on them! The rest of you, keep an eye out for anybody else! MOVE IT!"

Most of the men fanned out in a circle around Hayate and the Wolkenritter, only six of them leveled their weapons at the hapless four females while the others scanned the surrounding area for any other intruders.

Minutes ticked by, during which the three Wolkenritter tried to get an impression at their current captors. They quickly got the impression that the men around the group were ill-disciplined rabble, militia with little formal training and probably just as much education. They saw them quickly begin too slack off from their guard duties… even worse they noticed a few of them eyeing Signum and Shamal in rather unpleasant ways. Shamal didn't look at those men eyeing her, but Signum gave both of their ooglers a harsh glare. Some of them stopped staring, but a few of them continued on. Vita and Hayate sensed the other two Wolkenritter's discomfort but did not comment, Vita knew why and Hayate did not but could guess.

A few minutes after being captured (arrested?), the noise of engines announced the presence of vehicles. A small convoy of three appeared, the first and last of which were large four wheeled buggies with mounted rotating turrets, their auto-cannons training for targets. The middle vehicle was apparently an armored carrier of sorts, six large wheels keeping a heavily armored chassis above the ground with no visible weaponry.

The convoy slowed to a halt in front of the perimeter of soldiers around the 'prisoners' and six new figures emerged from the big armored vehicle. Signum took in their appearance, every last one of them were covered head to toe in some sort of black armor, a red visor on the helmet indicated a HUD and red capes billowed out impressively behind each individual. Their weapons were obviously more standardized and advanced, rifles of some sort although the experienced Wolkenritter could tell they were not ordinary guns.

What truly struck the Wolkenritter was the way these newcomers carried themselves, they seemed to possess a quality of danger and a warrior's confidence that contrasted with the militia's sleazinness. They observed the commander of this little group, Corporal Henderson, walk up to the apparent leader of this new unit and salute. The leader of this unit returned the salute then turned his visor over the Wolkenritter and her master, scanning them for a moment before returning his attention back to the Corporal in front of him.

And then he spoke and, to their small surprise, 'he' turned out too actually be a her.

"Corporal Hernandez… " The voice was slightly distorted, but definitely female, "Are these the spies you say you have caught?"

"Yes, Sister." The Corporal's tone was formal and short.

The red visor turned back to the four girls, taking in their clothes for a moment before saying, "Are you sure they are spies?"

"Their clothes betray them, sister." The reply was filled with certainty.

"And what would GDI have to gain by letting their spies look so conspicuous they would guarantee to be caught and interrogated, thus letting us know that they know of our facility here?" The armored-woman asked.

Corporal Hernandez gaped at the figure, as if he had never considered that before.

"May I speak?" Hayate tried gently, everyone's attention was on her in an instant making her slightly regret having said that right then and there. The Corporal opened his mouth, but was cut-off by a raised hand from the armored-woman, who then motioned for Hayate to continue.

"I apologize for trespassing, we sort-of just woke-up here and we have no idea where we are. I hope we can come to some sort of arrangement…" Hayate trailed off as she realized the skeptical looks she was getting from not just the Corporal, but all six of the armored figures too.

"We'll see about that…" The armored woman said, "What are your names?"

"Ah, I am Hayate Yagami…"

"Signum Yagami, Hayate's Aunt." Signum's voice only had a touch of tenseness. 'Yagami' was not their official last name and Signum was not actually Hayate's aunt, but it simultaneously provided a good cover on Earth and helped facilitated paperwork both there and with the Bureau.

"Shamal Yagami…" Shamal's voice was cautious.

"I'm Vita…" Vita sounded testy, it was hot and her arms were getting tired so she probably had every right too.

"Well, I'm afraid we can't truly just let you go. No matter how accidentally, you are trespassing on sensitive property. We'll have to detain you temporarily and confiscate any weapons, for obvious reasons, and identification, to determine if you are who you really say you are." The armored woman said, "It will take a couple of hours, but you'll be provided for." She paused, "We'll need to do a body inspection."

"I'll take the blondie!" One of the soldiers who had been eyeing Shamal earlier said, quite unadvisedly. Signum looked ready to summon Laevatein right there and then, but was saved the trouble as the black-clothed woman in one swift seamless motion stepped up to the man who had said that, drew back an armored fist, and smashed it into the offender's face.

"Pig…" She said, contempt clear even through the external speakers. "I'll do it." She turned to the Wolkenritter, "You can put your hands down just don't make any sudden movements."

They did so (Vita with a lot of relief) and the armored woman searched them, starting with Signum. She did not find their devices, of course, those had not been summoned (with the exception of Klarer Wind, which existed only as a pair of rings, but they did not look anything like a weapon so they passed), but she did find their wallets.

She flipped them open, removed the ID cards, looked at them, and frowned. She then twisted her head back towards her subordinates and said: "I am going to need some Japanese translators for these."

It was that moment that the four mages realized their captors had been speaking English this entire time, auto translators really were wonderful things. After a thorough search (Vita had bristled when her turn came, but let it pass), the four were escorted by the six black-clad individuals around the back of the armored transport and into a troop carrying compartment. The rear ramp slid closed and the vehicle took off, not for the first time Hayate wondered whether surrendering had been the right thing to do.

_**Unkown Location…**_

_**Around that same time…**_

Chrono found himself in the same position that (unknowing too him) Hayate, the Wolkenritter, Nanoha, and Fate had: staring at a blue sky. Only this time there was the sound of people walking and cars driving nearby, buildings at the edge of his vision, and finally a face with glasses in the middle of the same view.

"Oh… you woke-up. I was just about to call the hospital." The man said, "You okay kid?"

"Uh… yeah." Chrono replied after a momentary bout of confusion. The last thing he remembered was that he had just arrived on the bridge of the Asura and was talking too Yuuno via video screen. The next thing he knew, he was here. "I'm just fine."

"Good, what about your friend here?" The man asked.

Chrono frowned, _'Friend?'_

"Oh, he's waking up too…" The man said, looking away. Chrono took that opportunity too sit-up and look in the same direction. He saw Yuuno stir and open his eyes.

"Ferret-boy?" Chrono said, getting an odd look from the mentally dubbed glasses man.

"Chrono?" Yuuno said, apparently just taking in his surroundings. Chrono took that opportunity to do so himself. They were in an alleyway that was empty besides him, Yuuno, glasses man, and… Arf?

The familiar was thankfully in her puppy form by a concrete wall and was getting too her feet.

"Well, it looks like you bunch are just fine." Glasses man said, before looking over at Arf, "Why do I always see the weirdest things when walking down this alleyway."

An awkward pause and then, "Well, I suggest you kids get home to your parents, I have a schedule to keep."

And with that glasses man picked up a briefcase and took off in one direction. The three watched him go, and then Yuuno turned to Chrono. "What happened there? I was talking too you from the library and then…"

The Chrono frowned, "I am not sure… maybe we are in another dimension."

The 15 year old Enforcer looked down at Arf and mentally transmitted:_ 'You okay Arf?'_

'_NO!' _The near panic in the familiar's response was quite evident, _'Fate! I've lost my connection with Fate!'_

"What?" Yuuno and Chrono said out loud simultaneously, quite aware exactly what the familiar was saying. But that was impossible…

"Durandal, I need a connection to TSAB HQ!" Chrono said to his device.

**"Error: No Signal!"**

"We must be out of dimensional range of the nearest transmitter…" Chrono said, his mind racing, "But that would mean we are months away from the nearest explored world."

'_But that still would not explain my loss of connection to Fate…' _Arf pointed out.

"We can worry about that later. Right now we need to find out where we are and try to maintain a low-profile. We are obviously not on an explored world and help is months away. Ferret-boy, if anybody asks you are my brother."

Yuuno nodded for a moment before thinking the implications of those words through, "Wait… what?!"

"We're going to need cover," Chrono said, his voice still in that same seriousness, and Yuuno decided to relent too his reasoning, "And more importantly, we can't stay here forever. If we are going to find out where we are, we should get moving."

'_Let's go then…' _Arf 'said' and the three walked out of the alley.

They were met by an incongruously peaceful sight. Glass, steel, and concrete buildings spread out every-which-way both horizontally and vertically. Sleek and oddly high-tech automobiles moved about through clogged traffic and the sidewalks, while not clogged with people, still had a large amount of pedestrians moving about. For some reason, the three were reminded of a large Mid-Childan city.

"Television store…" Yuuno pointed out, across the street and a few buildings to the left. A few people in business suits with coffee cups in their hands were lounging outside the front of an electronics store, watching the flat screen TV's on display in the front window. The two kids and the Familiar quickly found a crosswalk, crossed the street, and raced over to the TV screens. A few of the men standing around gave them a curious glance but simply went back to drinking their coffee and watching the TVs.

Too Chrono's relief, they were all tuned to an apparent news station, called W3N if the lower right hand symbol was anything to go on. The main anchor had just appeared on screen, the bottom ticker showing his name as 'William Frank', the subtitle announcing the news story: 'Day Five Onboard the GSS Philadelphia'. The picture too the anchors right left no doubt that the 'Philadelphia' was a Space Station.

"And in global news today, the annual GDI energy summit is still under way aboard the Space Station Philadelphia." The anchor said, "Our own Cassandra Blair reports on the landmark goals set for this year's summit."

The image shifted, revealing a brown-haired woman in front of a block of buildings, the title changing to 'Cassandra Blair' as if people would forget in the two second interval of who they were talking too. "When top administrators return to work here tomorrow, their hoping for a new fiscal agenda. According to Director Kinsburg, one of the key talking points for this year's summit is shifting resource allocation from defense too ecology where the eradication of Tiberium is now viewed as a more pressing concern then the containment of-"

She never finished the sentence as the image abruptly cut-away, replaced by a large 'Breaking News' sign. As it did, the group became aware of a distant rumbling in the distance, Yuuno, Chrono, and Arf ignored it, figuring it to be distant thunder, but a few of the coffee drinkers around them had glanced up momentarily. A lot more people were beginning to surround the shop now that apparently some big news was coming up.

The image went back to William Frank, who looked a bit flustered. "Ex-excuse the interruption, we're getting breaking news on the Philadelphia."

The image shifted again, this time to what was labeled 'amateur astronomer footage' show casing the topical space station. As they watched, a brief flare as a streak of light shot towards the orbiting glass and metal structure.

"Oh Christ…" One of the coffee-drinkers said, even before the camera lit up in a bright flash and the station turned into a raging ball of fire.

"Just moment's ago, there was an accident." The trio, with their focus on the televisions, heard rather than saw the coffee-drinkers do spit-takes at the amazing show of journalistic density being put up by William Frank. "We are going to do our best to confirm what we are all seeing, but at this time, we have no idea what possibly could have caused a tragedy of this magnitude…"

"You idiot!" One of the drinkers said. Yuuno, Chrono, and Arf shared a look, all of the sudden the rumbling noise in the background was becoming a lot more ominous (not to mention louder) and several of the drinkers were making concerned looks in the direction it was coming from.

Frank continued on, unaware of the insult via not actually being there, "We are going to go live now to Cassandra Blair back outside the Northeastern admin building. Cassandra?"

The image shifted back to the brown haired woman from earlier, but this time, besides a few group of people, nothing could be seen behind her through a massive pall of smoke, Cassandra had a mix of excitement and fear on her face and behind her there was the audible sound of explosions and sirens.

"WILLIAM! WILLIAM!" She shouted to make herself heard. "I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, BUT IT'S INCREDIBLE! THERE IS SO MUCH SMOKE YOU CAN'T SEE MORE THEN TEN METERS AND THERE IS DEBRIS FALLING ALL OV-"

An abrupt flash of white-yellow-orange (in that order) and a mix of an explosion and screaming cut the lady off and the image flashed back to the anchor, staring at something off-screen with shock and shaking his head. "Unbelieva-"

The rumbling sound was getting really close and a few of the coffee drinkers (and the other bystanders who had started walking) had begun to rapidly walk away. The TV screen went to static momentarily before focusing back on an image of a red room with a goateed man in the center, looming quite large over in the camera's view.

"The destruction of the Philadelphia was not an accident…" He began.

The reaction from the crowd was one of solemn alarm.

"Jesus!"

"But… there's no way…"

"But he's supposed to be _**dead!**_"

Chrono and Arf didn't pay attention to them, just staring at the screen, on the other hand Yuuno only paid half-attention, particularly to that last comment which he mentally filed away for future reference. The man on the screen continued, "It was a merciful bullet to the head of a malignant ideology. It was the death of fear and the birth of _hope!_ **REJOICE **children of NOD! The blood of your oppressors will flow and fifty years of tyranny will finally end. Transformation is coming, a new day will dawn, the future… is _ours_."

The image cut-back to the still stunned looking anchorman.

Whatever he was about to say was cut-off as, simultaneously, the TV's shut off and sirens began to scream. It was the latter action that caused Yuuno, Chrono, and Arf to tear their eyes away from the screen, although the other bystanders were still staring in dumb shock at the TV screen. The broadcast had obviously been important for a reason right now lost on the three, but there would be time for finding out later.

A loud voice echoed across the city as the sirens wailed, a mechanical female one that was obviously an automated message.

"Attention! The threat level has been raised to: SEVERE. All civilians are advised to seek immedia-"

Only Yuuno and Chrono were looking up at the time, so only those two actually saw the pair of large, black-and-red, flying wing-shaped aircraft seemingly appear out of thin air. Everybody on the block, however, heard them as the twp aircraft shot over their heads, the roar of the jet engines blocking out the announcement speakers and sirens.

Chrono followed them visually as each craft released a single projectile which slammed into a police station at the end of the block. Two loud blasts rang-out as the explosives detonated and the building collapsed, followed by screams of panic and metal as cars began to crash and people began to panic. Arf had to leap into a doorway to keep from being trampled while Yuuno and Chrono found themselves pressed against the glass window of the TV store.

As the roar of the explosions cleared, the only sounds left were panicked shouts, screams of agony from those wounded, the constant wailing of sirens, and the second half of that announcement.

"-orcement and military personnel are to report for immediate duty. This is not a test, again this is not a test. This message will repeat. Attention! The threat level has been raised to: SEVERE."

And with that, the mob of stampeding people petered out where it was safe to get onto the street, filled with fender-bendered cars that clearly were not going anywhere. Still, the three were tempted to stay where they were… until another pair of black and red aircraft thundered over head and released another pair of bombs into a highway overpass on the other side of the store.

Fragments petered down and the three began to run over the hoods of abandoned vehicles as the screeching sound of concrete and metal giving way indicated the elevated highway section was collapsing.

'_What the hell is going on!' _Was the terrified telepathic exclamation from both Yuuno and Arf.

'_A war apparently!' _Was Chrono's 'panic-calm' response… in truth, he was probably just as frightened as they were, he just was not showing it.

They ran down the alleyway they had left just minutes before as the sound of automatic cannon's began to fill their ears, obviously anti-air defenses responding to the attacks. They turned stopped at the end of the alleyway to look both ways. The way to the left was clear, the right was a panicked group of school children, apparently 7 or 8, probably on a field trip, being hustled by their teacher in the three's direction.

Arf saw another black-and-red aircraft appear and release its bomb. And at that moment, everything seemed to slow down, she saw that the projectile would land in a building not fifty meters from the school group. She saw the teacher see this and begin to move as if to shield the children. Instinctively, Arf knew that if she did not do something, all those seven or eight year olds were going to be killed or maimed.

She didn't really think about the actions she took next, in a flash she had transformed back into her adult human form (if one discounted the tail and ears) and had thrown herself at speeds even she did not think herself possible in between the children and the bomb impact point. She would later vaguely recall Chrono shouting at her while doing that, although that might have just been a trick of her imagination.

"BARRIER!" She yelled, the magical force field forming just as the bomb smashed into its target and exploded. The barrier (and Arf) buckled under the blast and shrapnel, but it held nicely. The smoke cleared, and she dropped the barrier and turned back to the frightened children who had little clue as to what happened. The teacher was staring at her dumbfounded.

"Don't just stand there!" Arf shouted, "Take shelter!"

Not willing to argue with the lady who had just saved them, even if she had the ears and tails of a dog, the group took off.

"ARF!" Chrono shouted, his barrier jacket now on and Durandal in his hands, Yuuno right on his heels as he ran over, "What did you think you were doing?"

"Saving those childrens lives!" Arf snapped back.

Anything Chrono was about to say was interrupted by a fourth voice, this one female and clearly not directed at them.

"Tell me you sent that!?"

A male voice shot back, "I did alright! I got it and transmitted it!"

The two mages and one familiar turned and Chrono suddenly wanted to scream.

In saving the school children, Arf had also saved a reporter and her cameraman who were also running for their lives… except the cameraman had caught Arf on video.

As if things weren't complicated enough…

The reporter turned back to them and saying, "Can we get an interview later?"

That was not helping.

**End Chapter…**


	3. In the Killbox

**A/N: **I learned between first posting this chapter and doing this revision that Durandal refers to Chrono as 'boss' and not 'sir'. I find this rather funny, because in omake Manga's for MGLN, Bloodthirsty!Raising Heart does the same thing with Nanoha. :p

I also have done a little editing with the scene involving Arf and the artillery shell, to take into account the fact that, yes, Familiar's actually do have barrier jackets (a fact I completely forgot about while watching StrikerS). And yes, I actually do plan on explaining Arf's jacket problem…

**Disclaimer: **NOTHING! I-OWN-NOTHING! Except this computer… and a little bit of money… and, ah, um, yeah.

**Green Struggle**

**Chapter 2: In the Killbox  
**

_**Blue Zone B-2, 20 kilometers Southwest of Washington DC Limits**_

_**June 17**__**th**__**, 2047**_

_**Late-Morning**_

Chrono was not having a good time. He could have handled waking up in the alley with no idea of where he was, he could handle the idea of Yuuno and Arf being there with him. He had yet to fully come to grips with the fact there was an apparent war going on, but there was a time for that later. Where it became intolerable was that they had apparently been caught on camera by a prospective reporter and her cameraman while Arf was saving some civilians from an errant bomb.

So Chrono did the first thing that came to mind. Ignoring the reporter's question about an interview (somewhere in his subconscious he was wondering why she wanted an interview when there were bombs falling all over the place) he aimed Durandal at the cameraman.

"**Stinger Snipe!" **Durandal commanded, the single guided magical missile shot forward and smashed clean through the unfortunate camera.

"HEY!" Both the reporter and the cameraman yelled, the latter more angrily, as they leapt in separate directions from the apparent attack.

"Arf! Yuuno! We need to get out of here!" Chrono yelled at his companions. Without waiting for a reply, Chrono grabbed Yuuno by the shirt and took off into the air, Arf following a moment later leaving the speechless news pair behind.

Two kilometers to the southeast, however, an automated anti-aircraft gun lost track of the NOD Vertigo it had been shooting at. Detecting two signatures, the first 62.74% consistent with a NOD shadow team member and the other 82.35% consistent with the same, the EVA in charge of that particular anti-air battery made the assumption that Chrono, Yuuno, and Arf were hostile and responded accordingly. The twin 30mm gatling guns swiveled and locked onto target one through its numerous built in sensors.

It was the sensors that wound up saving both Chrono and Yuuno's life. Durandal detected the emissions from the guns mini-radar and noticed it zone in on the devices master.

"**BOSS! Evasive Action!"**

Chrono didn't ask any questions, he immediately jinked down (too Yuuno's chagrin) just as the gatling guns opened fire. Several dozen rounds of depleted-uranium slugs raced through the spot he had just occupied in a second, followed by several hundreds more coming closer as the automated platform began to adjust its aim.

"Protection!" Arf called out, throwing up a barrier as she leapt between Chrono and the source of the bullets. The depleted uranium rounds smacked into the barrier with loud cracking sounds, the result being as if someone was slowly ripping a steel beam in two. The barrier was holding, but the strain of being under assault by a continuous stream of such high-caliber ammunition rapidly showed on Arf.

"Chrono! I can fly too," Yuuno shouted over, "Let me go, I can help Arf!"

Chrono may tease the defensive mage outside of combat, but when under attack he knew to trust the librarian's instincts. So he let go and Yuuno put himself next to Arf and threw up his round shield just as the cracks began to show in the familiar's barrier. Grateful, Arf let it down, and Yuuno flinched as the first bullet smacked into his Round Shield, but rapidly recovered as he realized he could hold this up better.

The entire exchange took place in under ten seconds and was nearly interrupted as one of the black-and-red bombers screeched by, deafening the trio. The barrage of rounds immediately let-up and began to chase after the larger signature of the aircraft, the three mages watched as the tracers ripped into the aircraft's right wing and sent it spiraling into a nearby apartment in flames.

"We should get on the ground!" Chrono yelled, angling for the roof of a parking garage, Yuuno and Arf quickly following, not wanting to get shot at again. Now 5 kilometers away, the AA-gun lost track of the three and returned to stand-by mode until it detected new hostile targets.

"Who was manning that gun!?" Arf hissed as they landed, completely unaware exactly what had been shooting at them.

"I don't know." Chrono said, "I have never been here before."

"Oh my god…" Yuuno's voice was mixed with awe and horror as from the current vantage point he could see quite a ways to the south, southwest, and a bit to the northwest, Chrono and Arf followed his gaze.

In all directions the tracers of anti-aircraft fire and streaks of surface-air missiles could be seen arcing skywards towards the rapidly moving shapes of those flying-wing bombers. Bombs exploding, accompanied by the rumbling sound of their detonations, could clearly be identified by the clouds of dust and debris that erupted from the ground and various structures that were hit.

But somewhere between 5-10 kilometers to the south and southwest was where the most spectacular, and terrifying, sight was coming from. A line of explosions and fire, accompanied by the continuous thunder of heavy guns, the crackle of automatic weapons, the shrieks of incoming artillery shells, and a strange electrical cracking sound that the three could not readily place was moving steadily from that direction. As the long twisting line continued to grow closer, they began to make out other sounds, the incoherent shouting of the combatants, the deep-throated rumble of vehicle engines, and an odd thudding sound.

They couldn't really see anything specific, the fires and explosions were throwing up too much gunk and obstructing their vision. But they could make out the flashes of heavy gunfire through the heavy smoke, along with tracer rounds and explosions. Every so often they also caught sight of a red-ruby flash that accompanied the electrical noise they heard earlier, but they did not recognize it immediatly.

"That… that must be the frontline." Arf said, her voice low in awe.

"Yeah." Yuuno said, sounding like he had been hypnotized, "And it is coming this way…"

There was a moment's pause as Chrono and Arf simultaneously looked at Yuuno in the horrified realization that he was right.

"We have to get out of here." Chrono said.

"How?" Yuuno suddenly said, motioning in the other directions, "We can't fly through all that shooting and if we try to go by ground we'll get overtaken anyways."

He was right, but Arf put in another suggestion: "What about transferring out?"

"Transfer to where?" Yuuno asked, "We don't have a reference point, either for somewhere else on this world or for another dimension. You know how risky it is to transfer under such a situation?"

That last sentence was clearly rhetorical, Arf knew damn well how risky such an attempt was and was not about to try it now that she was reminded.

"What do you suggest?" Chrono said loudly, the fighting was drawing closer necessitating that he speak at a louder volume.

"We try to survive and figure out what is going on." Yuuno said, amazingly calm given the circumstances.

"Well we shouldn't stay up here then." Chrono said, turning towards the ramp that led down into the building, "Come on…"

The garage was six stories tall and they had been on the roof, which meant they had seven stories to go to reach the ground floor. They were on the second floor when they heard the sound of vehicle engines just outside and the shouts of soldiers from the adjacent street. The three reached the first floor and crept up to the tall barrier which separated the buildings parking floor from the sidewalk. Levitating slightly, the trio peered over the top.

Some three dozen soldiers dressed in body armor that, despite being painted in a light blue, had a camouflage pattern which did well in breaking up their outlines, even in this urban environment. Also present were six military vehicles, pair of boxy SUV-looking automobiles with rather large tires was parked somewhat haphazardly forward-most on the road, twin-missile launchers aimed down the street.

Stationed behind them in a staggered pattern were two different vehicles, with six wheels instead of four that looked better armorred, their mounted gatling guns were also pointed southwards. A third such vehicle was actually parked on the little side-ramp that ran into the garage Chrono, Yuuno, and Arf were in… which was also the only observable entrance.

The final vehicle, positioned just around the corner of an intersection and thus partially shielded by the building opposite the parking garage, was a tank. Its big main gun was, likewise, pointed southwards and its engine could be heard idling in the event it needed to move. Despite being bigger than the other two vehicle-types, the tank had a somewhat sleeker look to it than the more lightly armored counterparts, as strange as that seemed.

Chrono rapidly identified an apparent officer, he was standing next to the back most of the first vehicle-type, the one with the pair of missile launchers. The man was virtually yelling into some sort of communications device, which looked a lot more like a phone than anything else, having to be made heard over the cacophony of sound of battle which seemed it was only a few blocks over (in actuality, it was still two kilometers to the south, but it sure sounded like the shooting was just down the street and around the corner). Despite all the noise, Chrono could still rapidly make-out what the officer was shouting.

"-ELL WHO IS IN CHARGE THEN?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'I AM'?!" The man paused, listening for a moment, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HAMPTON ROADS HAS FALLEN?! THAT'S STILL TO THE-" Another pause as he listened to whoever it was on the other side of the line, then the officer fiddled with a datapad being held in his free hand.

"WHAT?! THAT'S TO THE EAST OF DC! HOW DID THEY GET UP THERE?!" Beat, "OH, AN AMPHIBOUS ASSAULT, EH!? WELL THAT'S GREAT! EXCEPT I AM TO THE _SOUTHWEST _OF DC, ASSHOLE! AND I HAVE AN ENTIRE NOD ARMY ABOUT TOO… HELLO?! HELLO?! _**FUCK!**_"

With that violent curse the officer slammed the phone into whatever socket on the vehicle he had pulled it out of and stormed stormed away, the soldiers around him continued about their business aiming a variety of automatic weapons, grenade launchers, and missile launchers down the street. It occurred to Chrono that, despite being somewhat spread out, these guys were asking for a bombardment-type attack to come crashing down on them.

As if on cue, there was a screeching sound in the air and an artillery shell exploded in the dead center of the intersection, beyond a few scraps none of the soldiers got hurt but they all ducked behind whatever cover they could and threw themselves flat on the ground.

"Maybe we can sneak out…" Arf suggested, changing back to her puppy form.

More shrieks followed explosions, this time there were screams of pain and the ground shook violently, throwing Yuuno and Chrono off their feet.

"Do you still want to-" Chrono began to say sarcastically, only to be drowned out by another series of shrieks, this time sounding like they were coming down directly on top of the three.

The 175mm artillery shell fired from a Specter self-propelled gun some 32 kilometers away slammed into the parking garage in between the first and second floor after a flight time of 53 seconds. Horizontally speaking, it blew up roughly ten meters from the three mages. Its large payload of Tiberium-based explosive ordnance was enough to overwhelm Yuuno and Chrono's barrier jacket, fortunately Durandal automatically threw up a barrier shield as the warhead detonated. The barrier was instantly broken but absorbed enough of the blast that the two Mid-Childian mage's barrier jackets 'only' took severe damage. All three were blown out into the street by the shockwave from the explosion.

"Ow…" Yuuno said as he climbed shakily too his feet, quite disoriented from the explosion. A quick glance showed him Chrono was also getting back up and the soldiers were distracted by their wounded. Then he saw Arf…

Normally Familiar's had a barrier jacket, the amount of strength in the jacket was dependent on the strength of their masters. Chrono had noted that Arf was still capable of using her magic, and so assumed that the (apparent) disappearance of her link with Fate was only telepathic. Apparently, that had not been the case. Somehow, Arf's barrier jacket had vanished and thus when Durandal's protection barrier was overwhelmed there was nothing between her and the cutting shower of fragments and overpressure. Arf had automatically reverted from puppy to adult-wolf form as she had lost too much strength to maintain looking like an innocent puppy. Right now she was lying on her side, bleeding profusely from a large number of shrapnel wounds.

"ARF!" Chrono and Yuuno yelled, inadvertently drawing the attention of a few nearby soldiers.

"Wait… who the hell are-" One of them began but trailed off when he saw what looked like a teenager and a pre-teen in strange clothing run over to a very big, very hurt wolf.

"She's hurt bad!" Yuuno said, "If I don't do something she'll…"

Chrono spared a glance at the soldiers staring at them in quite a confused manner, could he permit it in front of all these… ah to hell with it, Fate would never forgive him if he let Arf died, and he would never forgive himself!

"Do it…" Chrono said.

"What the hell is going on here?!" The officer Chrono had seen earlier appeared. Then, with the exception of the noise of battle that was getting scarily close by now, they all fell silent and stared as Yuuno placed his hands just over Arf's wounds and began to heal her. It only lasted a second, but when it was over, Arf's wounds had been healed and the soldiers were staring in dumbfounded silence at the three.

It did not last…

"CONTACT! CONTACT! CONTACT GODDAMMIT!" A voice rang over a loudspeaker, as with a squeal of tires, a new one of the SUV-looking vehicles roared around the southern corner of the street. It managed to almost make it to the first SUV-looking vehicles before a series of artillery shells landed up-and-down that part of the street, obliterating the vehicle in a hail of explosions. All of the soldiers snapped out of their stupefied stares and apparently decided there could be time for questions later.

"Take cover!" The officer yelled.

There was noise, fire, and dust.

'_YUUNO?! ARF?!' _Chrono pretty much shouted telepathically over the noise of gunfire and missiles. A ruby-red beam of light, Chrono suddenly realized those were lasers of the lethal mass-based variety, slammed into one of the armored wheeled vehicles some 18 meters away, Chrono was close enough that he felt the heat radiating from the beam and even more so the heat from the explosion as the mini-obelisk laser instantly cored its way through the personnel carrier's armor and into the fuel cells.

'_CHRONO!'_ Yuuno's voice shouted back as a hail of bullets slammed into Chrono's rather depleted barrier jacket. Fortunately, even in its depleted state the jacket could handle such attacks and it was only because of the sheer number of attacking weapons that any hit at all. Chrono dove for cover, getting his first good glimpse at the enemies of these soldiers as he did so.

There must have been thousands of them, all clad in seemingly sowed together tattered fatigues and clutching a wide-variety of automatic weapons as they swarmed down the street. The defenders responded raking the charging horde with their own gunfire and Chrono saw literally hundreds of the attackers come apart under the mass of fire but there was no real apparent dent in the sheer numbers coming down the street.

Most ominously though, was the red and black goliath some two stories high standing at the opposite end of the street. Its right arm contained a giant red barrel and as Chrono watched another laser beam lanced out from the barrel and struck the other personnel carrier, which exploded just like the first. He heard a thunderclap as the tank fired and saw sparks as an armor-piercing round struck the goliaths left leg. The goliath merely began to turn, unfazed to bring the energy weapon to bear upon the tank…

All of two seconds had elapsed while all this occurred, so it was perfectly rational that Yuuno screamed into Chrono's head, _'WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!'_

'_HOW ARE WE GOING TO DO THAT?!' _Chrono yelled in his mind back as he found himself behind a car, clutching Durandal to his chest. He did not want to have to use any more magic yet, but it was looking increasingly likely that he would have too. Frantically he looked around for Yuuno and Arf. They were not where they had last been so that meant Yuuno must have dragged her into some cover and…

"DOWN WITH GDI!" Chrono looked up and raised Durandal just in time to prevent an attempt to stave his head in by one of the red clad soldiers who had apparently mistaken him for an ally of these blue soldiers. The fact that Chrono was 15 did not appear to register with the man as he tried to bring down the back of his assault rifle only to have it slam into Chrono's staff.

A swift, magically-strengthened kick to the face sent the man flying into a wall… only for another one to take his place, firing four rounds into Chrono's barrier jacket to no real effect before his weapon clicked empty. The new man did not seem to notice that his gun had run out of bullets though and he was still holding down the trigger, screaming an inarticulate cry, and still charging when Chrono swung Durandal into the oncoming maniac's side.

Again the magically-strengthened blow sent the man flying, only for yet _another _man to come charging over Chrono's cover… except this time he was immediately followed by two more, all of them firing their automatic rifles.

"Oh, screw this." Chrono muttered as he raised Durandal.

"**Stinger Ray…"**

The barrage of such basic magic missiles would have been less effective against another magic opponent, but against these men, many of whom were not even wearing such basic none-magical protection as Kevlar-vests, it was effective enough. The three men collapsed into an unconscious heap, as did several dozen more behind them, giving Chrono just enough room to take off into the air. Fortunately, flying into the air surprised the red soldiers enough that they stopped firing at him. Unfortunately, it made him a more obvious target when they did resume shooting. It also drew the attention of the giant robot, which had already destroyed the tank and was now focusing in on him.

He wasn't going to fight that thing though and Chrono shot away and around a corner.

'_Yuuno!' _He shouted telepathically, _'Where are you?!'_

'_I'm in a basement with Arf…'_ Yuuno replied, _'I managed to fly away in all that confusion. It's a rather small house, seems recently abandoned, about two blocks northeast of that intersection!'_

'_Alright… I'll be right there!' _Chrono glanced over his back to the intersection to see the burnt out remains of both of the SUVish-vehicles, two of the six-wheeled vehicles, and the tank, not to mention literally hundreds of torn apart bodies and blasted sections of building. One of the six wheeled vehicles was missing though…

Shrugging it off, Chrono flew in the direction Yuuno had told him he was, making sure to keep low so as to avoid attracting AA fire. With any luck, the red attackers would not find them there.

_**Yellow Zone Y-2, NOD Nuclear Weapons Facility, 30 kilometers west of Cairo**_

_**June 17**__**th**__**, 2047**_

_**Mid-Evening**_

'_At least they were nice enough to put us in the same cell…' _Hayate transmitted optimistically.

'_That's because they don't think we are a threat.'_ Signum sent back, _'Hayate, please I have a bad feeling about this.'_

'_If they try to hurt one of us, we will. But I don't think they are going too.' _Hayate said firmly.

'_Very well…' _Signum reluctantly replied.

It was pretty obvious that the cell was bugged and monitored by video cameras, even if there were only hidden ones around, so the group was communicating only using telepathy.

All things considered, it was a pretty nice cell… obviously it did not see much use. As a matter of fact, this particular cell block did not seem to have anyone else in it. They knew there were other prisoners, mostly looked like locals who had committed some offense or one of the bases soldiers serving for a infraction, but they had only seen those being escorted (or dragged) into or out of the blocks. Still, they had been… arrested? Taken prisoner? Something two hours ago, the wait was getting tedious.

Shamal and Signum were sitting on either side of Hayate on the small bench in the center, while Vita was pacing circles around them… obviously burning with hidden impatience.

A hissing sound down the block announced they had visitors. Five men, not the black-armored clad figures from before, to Signum's disappointment and Shamal's apprehension, but militiamen… although one of them seemed to actually be a militiawoman. Still, their clothes were better off than the gaggle of men who had found the four and they carried themselves with significantly more dignity. Their weapons were still the hodgepodge of automatics though.

One of the militia deactivated the barrier, Signum had noted it was not a magic barrier and Vita had tried to touch it and found it was solid as a wall, and then stepped back into view.

"Please." He said pleasantly, "Follow me."

Hayate took the lead, as usual, standing up as if she had nothing to fear. She probably thought she didn't either. The more cynical Wolkenritter were not so sure, whatever organization they had been captured by, it was paranoid, militarized, probably in the midst of fighting a powerful opponent, and ruthless. Still, Hayate was their mistress, one who had taken care of them far more than the most of the masters of the Book of Darkness, and they would follow her to their deaths if need be.

They walked not in the direction they had entered, but instead away from the entrance, into what was obviously an interrogation room. It was spotless and there was a table in the center with five chairs: four on one side, one on the other. The door back to the cellblock hissed shut and locked with an audible click.

"Please, take a seat in on the other side." The man from before said, "The Confessor will be with you shortly."

Only Vita spoke-up, obviously trying to keep her tone under control, "Excuse me, but we would like some answers…"

The militiaman's reply was understanding which was a good sign, "And so would we. The Confessor will be able to provide both."

Vita opened her mouth again, but Hayate cut her off, "That would be nice, thank you."

Vita pouted at Hayate, then went and took a seat without another word. Soon they were all seated and all of the militia left through yet another door. A few seconds passed and then that door opened and a new figure stepped in. He was armored, although not in the style of the soldiers who had brought them here. His armor looked lighter and more ceremonial, although it seemed to remain functional enough not to mention being much brighter in tone. He did not posses any apparent weapon beyond the semi-automatic pistol on his hip.

Silently he crossed the room and paused next to the chair across from the Wolkenritter to remove his helmet. The face behind had a weathered look and there was the barest hint of warmth in those young dark-green eyes, but it was there. The buzz cut however, was so thin as to render his hair color unplaceable.

He took a seat silently and used a gloved hand to fish out four sheets of paper followed by four familiar looking cards. He shuffled the cards and the paper around until he seemed to reach some sort of magical combination with one card for each paper and then he took a few glances up and down at each of the Wolkenritter and Hayate's faces.

"Hayate Yagami, Signum Yagami, Vita Yagami, Shamal Yagami…" He reeled off, his voice completely neutral, "I do have to say, if you are spies GDI really… messed up on this one."

There was a very short pause in between really and messed up, Signum and Shamal noticed it and it caused them to smirk slightly. He was toning down his language for Vita and Hayate's benefit. That was a very good sign indeed.

"According to this, Hayate Yagami, you were born in Japan in June of 1995." He glanced up and then asked, "What is today's date?"

All four of them furrowed their eyebrows in confusion, Hayate replied uncertainly, "June of 2005?"

Awkward silence… then the man said, sounding every bit as surprised as the four were about to be, "No, it is June of 2047."

Dumbfounded silence… they had travelled _forward_ in time? The next question added to the confusion.

"Next question, you, all four of you, live in Uminari City, Japan. Correct?" The Confessor asked.

"Yes…" This time all four of them put in their answers simultaneously which led to an awkward exchange of looks.

"Ignoring the fact that Japan ceased to exist as a de-facto nationstate in 2017," The Confessor went on, ignoring Hayate's sudden intake in breath, "There is no city named Uminari neither has there ever been a city named Uminari."

More dumbfounded silence.

"Now normally, this would be the part where the pliers and nails start coming out. However…" He looked at each of them pointedly, "There is no record of any of the four of you ever existing. According to all DNA and facial databases, both our own and… others, nobody with any of your names, physical traits, and ID cards have been born between the year 1990 and today."

If the looks on Hayate and the Wolkenritter's faces got any more shocked, they probably would have created some sort of black hole of shocking news from the sheer amount of surprise they were visibly showing too the world.

The confessor could not afford to miss this.

"So then… who are you?" The Confessor asked, "You're not spies, that much is clear. But you were still trespassing on property from the Brotherhood of NOD and, if your cards are indeed to be believed, come from a city that does not exist. So, are you going to tell me?"

The four sat there, not knowing the first thing what to say.

Vita, naturally, was the first one to think of something… and it wasn't an answer per say.

"Wait… the Brotherhood of NOD? Who are they?"

The Confessor stared at her, for once speechless himself for a short time, "If you are indeed from 2005, then you would still know who the Brotherhood is. We existed in the open then as now."

"Well I've never heard of them!" Vita yelled throwing her hands up, blatantly missing the looks of 'shut-up Vita' from Signum, "We don't even know where we are right now! Hours earlier, we were just getting ready to leave from Hayate's house and the next thing we know we are lying in the desert, without Zafira, and arrived just in time to observe a giant-honking-rocket be launched from…"

She trailed off as she finally noticed Signum's gaze… far too late. The Confessor had listened with great interest and when Vita had finally finished, he looked pointedly at Hayate, a move which made the other three Wolkenritter tense.

"Hayate's House? I would think either, or both, of your aunt's would own that building. And who is Zafira?" He said, and then his voice grew alarmingly suspicious as he continued, "And you seem to have assumed a rather… leader-like role amongst your family for a ten-year old."

For what was the second time that day, Signum was ready to pre-emptively whip out Lavaetein right then and there. Only she was prevented by Hayate's next statement…

"I think... I have an idea as too what's going on. Although I guess I have been reading too much sci-fi..." She chuckled, "Maybe we are from an alternate timeline of some-sort?"

The Confessor stared at her incredulously then seemed to consider the idea… whatever he was about to say next however, was interrupted by a buzzing sound from his side. He muttered something under his breath before bringing up the buzzing item… a personal display assistant.

"Confessor Viehl here." He said. A long pause then he sighed, "Understood."

He placed the PDA back on the table and looked pointedly, "It appears that some of our… higher authorities have taken an interest in your appearance. For now, you will be returned to the cell and be considered guests of the Brotherhood."

He stood up, putting his helmet back on and picking up the paper sheets, "You may take back your cards. Dinner will be provided in thirteen minutes… I should have further news for you later."

He paused, "And by the way, welcome too Cairo, former Republic of Egypt."

And with that he left Hayate and the Wolkenritter with a lot to process even as they were returned to their cells.

**End Chapter…**

**Final Notes: **And thus endeth the revisions. I am going to eventually resume work on chapter 3, don't expect it any time soon.

For now, enjoy what has been brought out.


End file.
